Sleeping through the night

I’m 50-50 if I’m going to wake up needing to pee in the middle of the night. I’m unaware if it happened on its own until the morning when I’m wet. The other half is when I will wake while I’m peeing. I’m a VERY heavy sleeper, so I can fall back asleep in minutes. I have also taken Gabapentin for headache and nerve/cramp issues. I only take it in severe times where I can’t control my leg or bladder cramps. I despise the “dumb” feeling it gives me and makes me so lethargic for days.

I think an important part of sleeping through the night is comfort of body AND mind. I believe that what worries you in wake can worry you in sleep. Try to find balance and harmony and it will pay dividends all around.
 
@notdrydude is right on. Trust in product feeling comfortable is key. When I think I'm going to leak, I'm on edge. Knowing I am ok and won't bother the wife is key
 
Wetsad I think that's the crux of the matter. I am alone but learning to accept the feeling of peeing as I'm supposed to be relaxing to sleep ....
I'm better fo years of practice but still aware and uncomfortable
 
Same. I had a bad night. Trying new MM made in the US and just not ready to trust. Even with sleeping aides I was up every 45 or so checking did I leak? Go pee in the bathroom. Check again. The mental part is way harder.
 
A bathroom schedule is impossible for someone with Neurogenic Bladder. Damaged spinal nerves = very erratic nerve behavior, including for bladder voiding. The nerves decide when I’m going to pee, not me.
 
I have never intentionally sat in a diaper and peed myself; I think that’s lazy and gross, not to mention expensive. I couldn’t do that. I have only wet a diaper when I’m unconscious of it and had no choice, like 99% of the time when I’m sleeping. I have certainly had daytime leaks but those were not my conscious choice.

The only time I can imagine wearing a diaper and intentionally having to consciously, deliberately use it while awake would be like in a situation I once found myself in when driving from L.A. to Las Vegas. Sometimes that entire journey on a two-lane highway is literally bumper-to-bumper the entire way, like on a Friday night when everyone’s going there to party, or if there’s been a car accident. There are no large bushes or trees under which you can pull over and pee. There are no exits with gas stations for two hundred miles. That journey includes going up the longest mountain pass in the United States. There are semi-trucks everywhere, coming from the busiest port in the United States, the Los Angeles port in Long Beach. The semis have a hard time struggling to get up that pass, slowing traffic down terribly. Cars are likely stopped in traffic staring at you if you get out of your car, so you really can’t just pull over and pee in the wilderness. There are no side roads; you’re totally surrounded by high desert mountains with only very short, puny bushes and cacti. A man can just pee in a bottle in his car, but there’s nothing a woman can do.

So the next time I drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, or vice versa, I will definitely wear a diaper, because last time I didn’t and it was an anxiety nightmare. If traffic like that got really horrible, I would probably have to deliberately wet the diaper. It’s crazy because without that kind of traffic, one can get from LA to LV in under four hours. But with that kind of traffic, it can take 12 hours or longer.

Additionally, because my knees and hips have been bone-on-bone for a decade and my ligaments all have micro-tears, I can no longer lift my body up from a squatting position to pee in the wilderness. I can only do it if I sit on the edge of the car door railing or a downed tree. When there are cars parked bumper-to-bumper in traffic, they know what you’re doing. It’s illegal. So I won’t chance it if there are no bushes/trees to hide in.

Anyway, it would only be in a condition of extreme duress such as that, that I would deliberately let my bladder loose into a diaper.

Another example of possibly having to do that would be on an airplane that is having to circle an airport for hours or had such turbulence that they wouldn’t let me up to use the bathroom correctly. Other than that, I’m not so lazy I won’t get up to use the toilet properly.
 
snow said:
I have never intentionally sat in a diaper and peed myself; I think that’s lazy and gross, not to mention expensive. I couldn’t do that. I have only wet a diaper when I’m unconscious of it and had no choice, like 99% of the time when I’m sleeping. I have certainly had daytime leaks but those were not my conscious choice.


Snow, this is the difference if you have to live with an urge incontinence. Maybe in your eyes it's lazy and gross to use (more or less voluntary) a diaper. but for me this is a fact of life. With 15 to 20 urges/day + usually 5 urges in the night I do NOT stay permanently around a bathroom and wait to stop with whatever I'm doing right then if an urge hits and try to reach a toilet. I don't want to stay purely at home and arrange my life around my incontinence, I want to live, I want to travel, hike through the nature, enjoy bicycle trips, visit interesting locations, and all this I can do without limits with wearing proper protection and simply using it if an urge hits. I don't feel ashamed or embarrassed, it's simply my way to live a happy, fulfilling life although being IC - it's not a big deal for me, I have no pain (as long as I don't try to hold in if an urge hits), it costs me around 75,- / month for in average 2 daytime diapers and one nighttime diaper.

In the nights I have the same choice: either to get up 4-5 times per night, sprinting to the bathroom, not getting into deep sleep mode because of sorrow of leaking the bed, being after a few of such nights more or less in "zombie mode" or as an alternative to wear a diaper, feeling well protected and find deep sleep and, maybe in your eyes voluntary, simply stay in bed, use my diaper while only very slightly waking up (if at all) and then fall back to sleep within seconds...

I decided to adapt my protection to my way of life and not to arrange my life around my IC, I don't regard myself as lazy but simply as pragmatic. I'm fine with it, my wife is understanding and supportive, so what?!?
 
I like Snow’s points and Hboc60. However I probably fall into the HBIC camp. Last evening we went to large outdoor concert. I was dry whole day and evening. Went to bed around 12:15. Woke up around 2:30 and went to bathroom. Woke up again at 6 and needed to pee. I felt I would not be able to go back to sleep if I got up. Plus as it was daylight I would wake my wife. I knew I had to get up at 7am. So I released and went back to sleep. The pull-up worked well and no leaks. And I slept for an extra hour. I think a reasonable trade-off. The pull-up absorbs very well and skin stays dry. I do not feel as though I am lying in pee.
 
I don't think it's useful to label wearing a diaper or pull up. We are here because we have to not because we are lazy.
 
@Hbic60 What makes you think I *don’t* have urge incontinence? Neurogenic Bladder causes every single kind of incontinence there is, including overactive bladder, nocturia, polyuria, urge incontinence, pain when peeing, and on and on and on. I choose to stay close to toilets and I choose to get Botox so that I’m not constantly pissing myself and sitting in a cesspool of ancient urine.
 
ub66 said:
Maymay941 said:
Have you tried melatonin? Takes about an hour to work

Melatonin helps me fall asleep but doesn’t keep me asleep.
I am the same. I deal with insomnia occasionally and melatonin usually works for me. I don't have as much trouble getting back to sleep, though.
 
@snow Don't misunderstand me, it's absolutely not my intention to accuse you anything! Everyone is different and chooses the way how to handle the struggles by him/herself; if you feel more comfortable to stay close to toilets and get Botox then do it and feel good!

I just had the feeling that - for some others - it might be helpful to get known to my pragmatic way of living with my IC and encourage to think about the fact how high quality diapers can be a perfect tool for IC people to live an active, social and still positive life without being limited to places near a toilet and that there is no reason for shame or embarrassment for using them.

High quality diapers prevent you from "sitting in a cesspool of ancient urine" as they pull the urine in the inner core of the diaper and keep it in super absorbent material (which is able to bind 20 times more liquid than it's own weight), and connected with a "feel dry" inner surface barrier they don't feel wet at all; I experience them myself as quite comfortable, no matter if dry or used.
But of course, first you must be able to accept that using a diaper is nothing "dirty" or something which has to be avoided under all circumstances and is only acceptable if everything else fails. But the way how you expressed "...so that I’m not constantly pissing myself and sitting in a cesspool of ancient urine." shows me clearly your opinion about my point of view, which I do not share but of course fully accept.
 
Jacques1553 said:
After 7.5 months after RP ….. if I don’t drink after 7pm I finally can sleep 6 to 7 hours for the first time the last 2 nights….. hoping it stays that way!

OMG after these 2 great nights, last night I slept 7.5 hours without getting up!!!!!
I wonder if this will keep up…..
 
Sleeping through the night:
I want to thank everyone for their input, their perspectives, and their suggestions.
In terms of staying asleep I will consider melatonin.
Has anyone found medication to reduce urgency and cramping just during the night only? I have struggled with the side effects of Anticholinergics, therefore I don't want to take them regularly. But if there was a way to benefit from a medication like an Anticholinergic during the times when I want to sleep at night, I would consider such a medication.

When to use my diaper:
There are many times when I cannot control when my bladder let's go or I am not aware that I leak due to the fact that my bladder does this crazy dance of cramping and urgency and I don't know what else. There are times when this is so distracting that it prevents me from being present, from being engaged in conversation, it prevents me from enjoying others and from being social. This constant distraction and discomfort has left me incredibly frustrated and at times angry. One way for me to cope with this is to take my mind off it as much as I can when I want to enjoy life and not let my bladder dominate my life and define who I am. And this “taking my mind off my bladder issues” sometimes results in my ignoring when I feel that I have to pee. These are moments when I make a choice to use my diaper instead of leaving the social situation and running to the bathroom again and again and again. I realized that this could be seen as convenient use of my diaper but it really is a survival strategy to make sure I don't become a bitter recluse. The price to pay is dealing with diapers and everything that comes with that. It is absolutely worth it.
But of course, I am not the only person who has to deal with this. Thankfully, I am blessed with the most amazing wife who has been nothing but supportive and understanding around this whole issue for me. She is my rock.
 
First congratulations on having a wife who knows how to see you as a person of worth. That's a hope for the rest of us recluses with OAB.

I took a post here as I was despairing of any relief and bought Bladderease from Amazon. It immediately stopped the cramping and feeling of heat or irritation in my bladder.
I now also take Queritin also bought on Amazon two capsules daily which has had a miraculous effect on the sudden urge and surge of incontinence during the day. I can actually plan to be walk to the toilet from a distance when the urge is urgent or triggered.
If I take one capsule at evening I get through most of the night although I still have nocturia when I came deeply asleep between 4am and 7am.

I have OAB started after a bad fall which hurts spine and pelvis as a point of reference. Each of us has a different reason for incontinence. The person who posted his success with the product is newbie2this and it sounds like a life history of incontinence possible from small bladder (I think) he also had cramps and surges relieved by bladderease and cessation of uncontrollable incontinent
 
I think IB66 has accurately reflected the situation for many of us. We are controlling our incontinence with protection not letting it control us.
 
Thank you, @Maymay941

Who else is helped by Bladderease and Quercetin?
What other medication or supplements help you with sleep by calming your bladder?
 
You can check the original post by newbie2this ub66.
I was about to quit the forum just when he posted it and it's changed my life
 
@Maymay941: Would you please point me to newbie2this' thread you are referring to?

Maymay941 said:
You can check the original post by newbie2this ub66.
I was about to quit the forum just when he posted it and it's changed my life
 
Ub66 I go to forum home at the top of this or any thread then I scrolled down to the show more threads (sort of a second page)
Look for the thread title "Queritin and another bladder supplement "
I'm sure there is a more sophisticated way to find a thread but I am on my phone and don't generally have to reread a post.
You can also private message Newbie2this for more insight
 
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